One morning I woke up & realized I had fallen in love

Reflection moment 

This morning as we were riding the bus out to BJR Nagar, to paint murals at the school, I realized how this place has somehow fought it's way past all my protective barriers and into that place in my heart, where fondness grows. At times India and I have our differences & certainly our tiffs. I get irked, upset and frustrated by the constant noise, the ever present trash, all the honking, the orderly disorder, especially when it comes to traffic, and being in the 'limelight' all the time since I am obviously a foreigner and everybody wants a picture! 

However deep down in the core of my heart I will always have a love for the experiences I have been given. (Shout out starts now) So many people helped make this possible, from those encouraging me to make this dream a reality, to those who have donated and continue to donate, to my country directors, the random people who help us along our way here, in India and in America. It's amazing what happens when we all come together. Call it positive energy, karma or God. I believe it is a combination of all three, mostly from God. (Shout out done)

Continued reflection 

I had a light bulb moment when I realized that loving is an action. I could choose to just let whatever happen happen, and justify my feelings and emotions right alig with it. Whether it be gratitude or impatience or frustration. But since this has been my lifelong dream to not only travel to India, but to live here and make a difference as well, I don't want anything to destroy that dream. So I have made the choice to acknowledge the frustrations and then move past it and look at what I love or what brings me joy and a smile. I choose to focus on the good. Which is challenging at times, when all I want is to throw a tantrum for all the injustices that happen. But no country, organization or person is perfect. They may have good ideals but the carry out is done by imperfect humans.

Experiences 

Anywho so as we were driving along I noticed the elderly man who gave up his seat to another elderly man with a cane (here men and women don't sit together unless you are related/elderly, or super young/related. All the men sit in the back and the women sit up front. Young boys are the only exception) 

I noticed all the goats sleeping on the huge rock under a tree. 

My favorite street puppies

Women dressed in their vibrant saree's carrying their large loads upon their head. I even felt something towards those working to build a structure, wether it be a house or a shop, with nothing but themselves to do the work. This is cement and large sticks/small logs we are talking about here. The buildings themselves have seen better days, with their crumbling walls, and sagging roofs. I realized I no longer see these as broken down buildings but as a characteristic of India. It no longer looks like scared land to me.

I was a little saddened to finish our mural today. It has connected me to a community. So many people stop by everyday to observe our work and thank us for taking time to come to their school. It brings a sense of pride to the community as a whole. So glad we took this project on, origanally it felt like a time filler project, but after speaking with the locals I realize it is an important project. Kids are proud to come to school here. I that makes a difference for even one child deciding to stay in school it is so worth it.

Before

The man in the top right is their current teacher. Grades preschool thru class 10 (which is comprised of 13 &14 year olds) 

After

The girls in the picture are some of the curious kids who stopped by to see what we were doing to their school.

3 things a love about India

-that everybody loves to show off their English, even if they don't know what it means. They start yelling things and will then throw in "bye" followed by "how are you?"

- Mango anything, fruit, milkshakes, ice cream, lassi(a popular dairy drink), yogurt gummys the list goes on. I could live off the Mangoes here

- All my little lizard friends who populate our home. Life is never dull